Weintraub: We're flunking science

Prior to bond-funded reconstruction, there were no properly equipped science classrooms at El Camino Real High in Placentia. Now Lisa Gersbacher teaches Earth Sciences in one of two new science classrooms. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Why it matters

California has been a world leader in science and technology for decades, but today the state's students are flunking the subject. To address the problem, the state Board of Education is considering replacing the state's current science standards with a new set that emphasizes practical science, including data gathering and experimentation. But some critics say the new benchmarks are vague and unclear and will leave teachers confused about what students are supposed to be learning.

Californians helped build the Saturn rockets that took the Apollo spacecraft to the moon. We invented the personal computer, brought the modern smart phone to millions of consumers and made the Internet an indispensable tool for research and communication. Our universities have been on the cutting edge of genetic exploration.

Yet, somehow, today, California kids are flunking science.

In a national test given in 2012, California eighth graders ranked 47th – behind only Mississippi, Alabama and the District of Columbia. Only 22 percent of California students were considered proficient or advanced in science.

There are many different theories for why this is so, although few of them, ironically, have been subjected to rigorous scientific testing.

A common refrain is that California doesn't spend enough on education. We rank somewhere between 35th and 49th in the nation, depending on who is doing the counting and whether you factor in California's high cost-of-living.

Another theory is that we have a higher proportion of immigrants than most states, and it is tougher to teach kids who don't speak English as their first language. Indeed, 27 percent of Californians were born in another country, about twice the national average.

Yet another hypothesis is that our schools have been focusing too much on English and math, while giving Science short shrift.

In reality, our problems are probably a combination of all of these things and more.

What, if anything, can we do about it?

A generation ago, California lawmakers confronted the state's abysmal performance in not just science but other subjects – especially reading – and mandated the adoption of specific academic standards for kindergarten through 12th grade, with a battery of tests keyed to those standards.

For the first time, California teachers, students and parents knew exactly what kids were expected to learn in every grade and in every major subject. And the tests were supposed to tell us how well California kids were mastering those standards.

In some ways, the reforms worked. With the test results hanging over their heads, schools focused on the standards, and students began to improve their performance. In earth science, just 12 percent of students even took the 9th-grade test in 2002, and of those, only 22 percent were considered proficient. By 2012, 28 percent of the students took the test and 37 percent of those students were proficient or better.

But there were problems.

Teachers complained that they were under pressure to "teach to the tests" – drilling the standards into students' heads at the expense of deeper learning and understanding. Yes, the scores went up, but were the students really learning more?

Related Links

Prior to bond-funded reconstruction, there were no properly equipped science classrooms at El Camino Real High in Placentia. Now Lisa Gersbacher teaches Earth Sciences in one of two new science classrooms. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
With an Albert Einstein Action Figure and other science artifacts on the wall in the science classroom at Huntington Beach High School, Kai Prager 17, and Julia Shenkman, 15, help keep score of the quizzes during the Science Bowl competition, part of SMACT (Science, Math, Academic Competition Teams) Middle School Science Camp. Despite such efforts, California's students test poorly in science. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

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